Abstract

H1: Nuclear Energy will be seen as riskier than other energy technologies in India. this paper explores nuclear energy in comparison with other technologies

Likert Responses (n= 2160)

The percentages are rounded off to whole numbers.

Introduction: Mean Perceived Risk and Mean Perceived Benefit for all energy technologies.

Boxplot for perceived benefit and perceived risk by technology

Pairwise T-test: Mean perceived risk and mean perceived benefit (all energy technologies)

The red and green pairs indicate that there is a statistically significant difference between the means of the two groups. White and grey indicate - no differences between the means of the two groups.

Benefit - Risk for each technology

Claim 1: Demographic variables: nuclear, solar, coal

Linear Regression with demographic variables (caste, religion, gender and age)

% Table created by stargazer v.5.2.3 by Marek Hlavac, Social Policy Institute. E-mail: marek.hlavac at gmail.com % Date and time: Tue, Jan 09, 2024 - 16:33:27 
## 
## Regression Models Summary
## ================================================================================================================================================================
##                                                                                 Dependent variable:                                                             
##                     --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
##                           RiskNuclear              RiskSolar               RiskCoal            NetBenNuclear             NetBenSolar             NetBenCoal     
##                               (1)                     (2)                    (3)                    (4)                      (5)                    (6)         
## ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Uppercaste                   0.106                   -0.065                 0.051                 -0.199**                  -0.020                 -0.096       
##                             (0.066)                 (0.059)                (0.060)                (0.093)                  (0.094)                (0.075)       
##                                                                                                                                                                 
## Male                        0.122*                 -0.291***                0.056                  -0.046                  0.456***                -0.004       
##                             (0.066)                 (0.060)                (0.061)                (0.095)                  (0.096)                (0.076)       
##                                                                                                                                                                 
## Hindu                       -0.115                 -0.237***                0.017                 0.400***                 0.501***                0.039        
##                             (0.076)                 (0.068)                (0.070)                (0.106)                  (0.107)                (0.085)       
##                                                                                                                                                                 
## UrbanUrban                  -0.099                  0.521***                0.110*                0.390***                -0.711***                -0.015       
##                             (0.065)                 (0.058)                (0.059)                (0.092)                  (0.093)                (0.073)       
##                                                                                                                                                                 
## age                         0.050*                 -0.070***                0.012                -0.116***                 0.187***                -0.038       
##                             (0.029)                 (0.026)                (0.026)                (0.044)                  (0.045)                (0.036)       
##                                                                                                                                                                 
## Constant                   3.309***                 2.325***               3.005***               -0.355**                 0.835***                0.059        
##                             (0.108)                 (0.097)                (0.099)                (0.154)                  (0.156)                (0.124)       
##                                                                                                                                                                 
## ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
## Observations                 1,444                   1,444                  1,444                  1,183                    1,183                  1,183        
## R2                           0.012                   0.100                  0.003                  0.041                    0.122                  0.003        
## Adjusted R2                  0.009                   0.097                 0.00003                 0.037                    0.118                  -0.001       
## Residual Std. Error    1.176 (df = 1438)       1.053 (df = 1438)      1.080 (df = 1438)      1.517 (df = 1177)        1.533 (df = 1177)      1.217 (df = 1177)  
## F Statistic         3.552*** (df = 5; 1438) 31.870*** (df = 5; 1438) 1.010 (df = 5; 1438) 10.122*** (df = 5; 1177) 32.725*** (df = 5; 1177) 0.705 (df = 5; 1177)
## ================================================================================================================================================================
## Note:                                                                                                                                *p<0.1; **p<0.05; ***p<0.01

Claim 2: Regional differences

We see huge differences for perceived risk and perceived benefit for each technology from state to state. These graphs explore that. The number of respondents from each state are also reported below.

Perceived risk by State

##   Maharashtra     Rajasthan    Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh   West Bengal 
##           653           677           320           125           386

Perceived Benefit by State

##   Maharashtra     Rajasthan    Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh   West Bengal 
##           653           677           320           125           386

## Radar chart - risk and benefit by state

Net benefit by state

Mean Perceived Risk and Weighted Mean

Mean Perceived risk and weighten means by Technologies- solar, coal and nuclear

Zscores - 3 techs - solar, nuclear and coal

Mean Perceived Benefit and Z-scores by State

Mean Perceived Benefit and Z-scores by State - coal solar and nuclear

Linear Regression : Perceived Risk and Net Benefit- demographic variables including State

% Table created by stargazer v.5.2.3 by Marek Hlavac, Social Policy Institute. E-mail: marek.hlavac at gmail.com % Date and time: Tue, Jan 09, 2024 - 16:33:49
Linear Models: Perceived Risk and Net Perceived Benefit (Nuclear, Solar and Coal)
Dependent variable:
RiskNuclear RiskSolar RiskCoal NetBenNuclear NetBenSolar NetBenCoal
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
Uppercaste -0.135** -0.006 -0.056 0.026 -0.146* -0.021
(0.061) (0.051) (0.058) (0.089) (0.084) (0.075)
Male 0.045 -0.047 0.015 0.008 0.058 -0.016
(0.062) (0.053) (0.059) (0.092) (0.087) (0.078)
Hindu -0.047 -0.057 0.099 0.362*** 0.290*** -0.008
(0.070) (0.059) (0.066) (0.100) (0.095) (0.085)
UrbanUrban 0.052 -0.076 0.055 0.172* 0.143 0.014
(0.067) (0.056) (0.063) (0.099) (0.093) (0.084)
age -0.015 0.045** 0.053** -0.008 0.045 -0.035
(0.027) (0.023) (0.025) (0.043) (0.040) (0.036)
StateRajasthan 0.222** -1.285*** 0.234*** -0.014 1.957*** 0.077
(0.094) (0.080) (0.090) (0.135) (0.128) (0.115)
StateTamil Nadu -0.242** -1.547*** -1.103*** -0.625*** 2.027*** 0.795***
(0.099) (0.084) (0.094) (0.191) (0.181) (0.162)
StateUttar Pradesh -0.178 -1.344*** -0.638*** -0.250 1.612*** 0.296**
(0.120) (0.102) (0.114) (0.177) (0.168) (0.151)
StateWest Bengal 1.276*** -1.330*** 0.071 -1.522*** 1.853*** -0.222**
(0.083) (0.071) (0.079) (0.125) (0.118) (0.106)
Constant 3.208*** 2.752*** 3.053*** -0.240 0.323** 0.022
(0.100) (0.084) (0.095) (0.147) (0.139) (0.124)
Observations 1,444 1,444 1,444 1,183 1,183 1,183
R2 0.204 0.353 0.141 0.171 0.338 0.035
Adjusted R2 0.199 0.349 0.136 0.165 0.333 0.028
Residual Std. Error 1.057 (df = 1434) 0.894 (df = 1434) 1.004 (df = 1434) 1.413 (df = 1173) 1.334 (df = 1173) 1.199 (df = 1173)
F Statistic 40.720*** (df = 9; 1434) 86.983*** (df = 9; 1434) 26.208*** (df = 9; 1434) 26.873*** (df = 9; 1173) 66.499*** (df = 9; 1173) 4.789*** (df = 9; 1173)
Note: p<0.1; p<0.05; p<0.01

Claim 3: Cultural, Political and Economic Values

CFA on eco-pol scale for Solar Energy

Confirmatory Factor Analysis(CFA) on newly developed eco-pol scale
Scale Items Loadings Standard Error zvalue pvalue ci.lower ci.upper std.lv std.all
People Centered Development Solar energy poses a great risk to the health of people living around it. 0.965 0.050 19.455 0e+00 0.8678100 1.0622499 0.9650299 0.7747043
People Centered Development Solar energy spoils the natural beauty of the landscape. 0.820 0.052 15.714 0e+00 0.7177752 0.9223481 0.8200617 0.6560430
People Centered Development Solar energy is leading to displacement of people from their land. 0.692 0.050 13.800 0e+00 0.5939852 0.7906393 0.6923123 0.5906886
People Centered Development Solar energy increases pollution of air/water/land. 1.096 0.050 21.706 0e+00 0.9970923 1.1950355 1.0960639 0.8411179
People Centered Development Large corporations are destroying the local industries in India and benefiting only a handful of people. 0.287 0.058 4.972 7e-07 0.1741052 0.4007040 0.2874046 0.2317296
People Centered Development Regardless of ownership, the government should pass strong regulations and implement them. 0.296 0.052 5.733 0e+00 0.1949541 0.3974941 0.2962241 0.2659785
Nationalist Development MECHANISATION -0.445 0.052 -8.501 0e+00 -0.5481301 -0.3427323 -0.4454312 -0.3859243
Nationalist Development Solar energy pushes forward the country’s development. 1.042 0.046 22.549 0e+00 0.9518805 1.1331082 1.0424943 0.8341064
Nationalist Development I would be proud if my community used solar energy 1.042 0.047 21.934 0e+00 0.9485906 1.1347564 1.0416735 0.8187225
Nationalist Development Solar energy is a mark of pride for our nation. 0.959 0.047 20.244 0e+00 0.8658229 1.0514501 0.9586365 0.7748161
Nationalist Development Solar energy brings economic prosperity to the surrounding regions. 0.980 0.047 20.803 0e+00 0.8876975 1.0723692 0.9800333 0.7896156
NA Solar energy will bring jobs to the local community. 0.641 0.051 12.542 0e+00 0.5406190 0.7408777 0.6407483 0.5339818
NA Solar energy poses a great risk to the health of people living around it. 0.620 0.054 11.424 0e+00 0.5139817 0.7268665 0.6204241 0.3998333

CFA on eco-pol scale for Coal

Confirmatory Factor Analysis(CFA) on newly developed eco-pol scale
Scale Items Loadings Standard Error zvalue pvalue ci.lower ci.upper std.lv std.all
People Centered Development Coal powered plants poses a great risk to the health of people living around it. 0.713 0.051 14.083 0.0e+00 0.6140727 0.8126265 0.7133496 0.6482214
People Centered Development Coal powered plants spoils the natural beauty of the landscape. 0.714 0.048 14.818 0.0e+00 0.6198092 0.8087672 0.7142882 0.6750268
People Centered Development Coal powered plants is leading to displacement of people from their land. 0.628 0.055 11.376 0.0e+00 0.5195755 0.7358706 0.6277231 0.5432527
People Centered Development Coal powered plants increases pollution of air/water/land. 0.640 0.041 15.561 0.0e+00 0.5590262 0.7201432 0.6395847 0.7014985
People Centered Development Large corporations are destroying the local industries in India and benefiting only a handful of people. -0.634 0.057 -11.174 0.0e+00 -0.7449013 -0.5225822 -0.6337417 -0.5349921
People Centered Development Regardless of ownership, the government should pass strong regulations and implement them. -0.509 0.054 -9.351 0.0e+00 -0.6162708 -0.4027047 -0.5094877 -0.4577641
Nationalist Development MECHANISATION 0.656 0.056 11.682 0.0e+00 0.5460463 0.7662170 0.6561317 0.5556245
Nationalist Development Coal powered plants pushes forward the country’s development. 0.626 0.055 11.326 0.0e+00 0.5177592 0.7344596 0.6261094 0.6242574
Nationalist Development Coal powered plants brings economic prosperity to the surrounding regions. 0.547 0.054 10.086 0.0e+00 0.4408772 0.6535573 0.5472172 0.5535687
NA Coal powered plants will bring jobs to the local community. 0.472 0.054 8.776 0.0e+00 0.3667103 0.5776005 0.4721554 0.4834144
NA PRIDECOAL 0.338 0.062 5.485 0.0e+00 0.2173242 0.4590249 0.3381745 0.3081207
NA NPRIDECOAL 0.284 0.061 4.667 3.1e-06 0.1645514 0.4027991 0.2836753 0.2634176
NA Coal powered plants poses a great risk to the health of people living around it. 0.702 0.056 12.572 0.0e+00 0.5927046 0.8116380 0.7021713 0.5798090
NA Coal powered plants spoils the natural beauty of the landscape. 0.610 0.050 12.173 0.0e+00 0.5113671 0.7076348 0.6095009 0.5443389
NA Coal powered plants is leading to displacement of people from their land. 0.941 0.069 13.656 0.0e+00 0.8060444 1.0761975 0.9411209 0.7048765